


Drunk Tank

by Buffygurl077



Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-15
Updated: 2020-03-15
Packaged: 2021-03-01 03:22:24
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 834
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23158495
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Buffygurl077/pseuds/Buffygurl077
Summary: After a bad break-up, Beth’s trying to get through the pain.  Unfortunately for her, the ways she deals with it are not exactly healthy.
Relationships: Daryl Dixon/Beth Greene
Comments: 2
Kudos: 27





	Drunk Tank

This was probably the last place she wanted to be. In the drunk tank with her best friend Rosita. “Look at it this way, Beth,” Rosita slurred. “Now that you got arrested for the first time, if you’re ever asked the question during ‘Never Have I Ever’ you don’t have to drink.”

She hadn’t wanted to go out tonight. What she wanted was to sit on her couch with the eighth box of Kleenex, like any normal person who is nursing a broken heart.

Beth Greene groaned and put her head in her hands. She didn’t know who to call. She knew she couldn’t call her father, because the lecture would never end. And she’d probably get a lecture from her sister Maggie, too. And if she called her brother-in-law Glenn he’d probably accidentally tell everyone, if he didn’t crack and tell Maggie before he even got out the door.

She decided to call Merle Dixon. She knew there would be no judgement because it’s not like he hasn’t been down this road before. And he could keep a secret.

It felt like forever until someone sprung her. Rosita’s boyfriend Abraham picked her up nearly two hours ago. 

“Beth Greene,” the cop called. 

Beth got up and followed him out.

“Shit,” she hissed under her breath. She now wished she called anyone but Merle. Standing there looking angry and disappointed was her ex-boyfriend, Daryl Dixon.

“I’ll get an Uber,” Beth said. “And I’ll pay you back the bail this afternoon.”

She started to storm away, but Daryl grabbed her hand.

“You have to leave with me,” he hissed angrily. “That’s the rules.”

Beth reluctantly followed him to his truck. 

“What the fuck Beth?!” Daryl shouted.

“Drunken disorderly,” Beth told him. “I’ve...I’ve been having a hard time.”

“This ain’t you,” Daryl told her. 

“No shit,” Beth grimaced, rubbing her temples. Her head was beginning to throb.

“You think this has been a picnic for me?!” He shouted.

“You were the one who ended it,” Beth said. “Said you’d bring me down. Pretty sure this wouldn’t have happened if we didn’t break up.”

“So this is on me then?!” He shouted.

“No it’s all on me,” Beth replied. “I just don’t want us to be over. But if that’s what you want, then that’s what it has to be. All I know is I’m going to find a healthier way to get through it. This is not gonna happen again.”

But Beth wasn’t sure what the healthy way was. When her mother died and brother died in a car accident, she slit her wrist. When the guy she thought she was going to spend the rest of her life with dumped her, she got wasted and a drunken disorderly arrest. 

Daryl helped her into the apartment they used to share. The place was a mess, she knew.

“This place is a mess,” Daryl commented.

“I know,” Beth replied and then yawned. A part of her really wanted to lash out on him. Like ‘how dare he comment on what this place looks like! He left me!’ 

“Go get some sleep,” Daryl told her. “I’ll be back with my things in the morning. We’ll clean up then.”

“Your things?” Beth asked, confused.

“I thought I did the right thing,” Daryl told her. “Thought you were better off without me. But yer miserable. And I’m miserable. I fucked up, Beth. I’m sorry for all this.”

Beth ran to him and hugged him. She was sobbing into his tee shirt. She realized he was crying too when she pulled back. He pulled her into a kiss and then helped her to bed.

“Please don’t do this again, Daryl,” Beth begged him. “I don’t know how I made it through this and I’m not sure I could survive another heartbreak.”

“I was a dumbass,” Daryl told her simply. “Everyone told me I was. Hell, Merle was ready ta take me ta the hospital for a cat scan to make sure I didn’t have brain damage or some shit.”

Beth laughed.

“And here I thought he’d be happy to get his favorite wingman back,” Beth joked.

“Nah,” Daryl said. “‘Sides, I’m pretty sure he’d rather have you as his wing woman. Told me the quality of women he’s been snaggin’ was helluva lot better.”

Beth had the best sleep she’s had in a while. She knew she had a monstrous hangover to look forward to in the morning, but being wrapped in Daryl’s arms again made it all the more better. 

That was the last heartbreak either had to endure. Daryl didn’t think Beth would be as hurt as she had been. He expected her to move on and realize Daryl was not the type of guy she should spend forever with. Daryl never wanted to see her that hurt again.

They married the following spring. By the following summer Beth bore him a son that they named Hunter. Two years later they gave Hunter a sister they called Daisy.


End file.
